Washington-Liberty Student Awarded $40K Amazon College Scholarship

Arlington VA

13 April, 2022

2:11 PM

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ARLINGTON, VA — A Washington-Liberty High School senior was awarded an Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship, including a $40,000 scholarship to study computer science at college and a paid internship at Amazon after their freshman year of college. The student, Amina Luvsanchultem, was one of 250 high school seniors from underrepresented and historically underserved communities across the country to receive the scholarship. She will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall and hopes to work for NASA one day. Luvsanchultem, a first generation Mongolian-American, learned that she had won the scholarship when Amazon Future Engineer team member Devin Johnson surprised her and her family at their home, Amazon said Wednesday. All recipients of the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship were chosen based on a variety of criteria, including their academic achievement, demonstrated leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience, future goals, and financial need. "These opportunities are imperative to building a diverse tech industry and enriching our communities," Victor Reinoso, global director of Amazon's philanthropic education initiatives, said in a statement Wednesday. "These students have fulfilling careers ahead, and we look forward to seeing them at their Amazon internships and all they will achieve." This year's winners were chosen among thousands of applicants and include 18 students from the Washington, D.C., area. More than 70 percent of scholarship recipients identify as Black, Latinx, and Native American and 50 percent identify as women, according to Amazon. At Washington-Liberty High School, Luvsanchultem created the Students for Racial Equity group after realizing that nearly one in five English learners at the school drop out before graduating. Washington-Liberty High School student Amina Luvsanchultem was one of 250 high school seniors across the country to receive the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship. She plans to attend MIT in the fall. (Courtesy of Amazon) Through Students for Racial Equity, she and her fellow students conducted empathy interviews with students of color and reached out to adult mentors, ranging from Arlington County Board members to NAACP chapter leaders. Luvsanchultem's goal is to expand Students for Racial Equity to her clan in Mongolia to help students in the area of Mongolia dealing with poverty and a lack of resources. As part of the 2022 program, Amazon awarded a total of $10 million in college scholarships to high school seniors from underserved and historically underrepresented communities. Along with the $40,000 over four years to study computer science, Luvsanchultem and the other recipients will receive a paid internship at Amazon after their freshman year of college to gain hands-on, practical work experience with mentorship from Amazon leaders. Amazon said it has more than doubled its scholarship commitment from 2021 by recognizing the 250 computer science students from underserved communities. The program has awarded $22 million in scholarships to 550 students across the U.S. since 2019.